Environment

Nature, our 'spiritual
laboratory'

By Sonalika
Puri

The beauty of
nature has been endowed upon us in its myriad
facets by the almighty or for some due to a freak
accident. It mesmerizes every human being.
That’s why whenever you see beautiful
scenery or a greenery field, your mind escapes to
the surreal world.

Our eyes search beyond
the mountains, farther into the jungle with
beautiful trees or extraordinary depths of the
seas and the rocks deep inside, colourful shapes
and aroma of wild flowers, agricultural forms,
gardens, panoramic view of beaches, fully covered
fogscape, drifty clouds in the sky, various
seasons, unique birds and animals and these are
incredible and can’t be explained in
words.

Man is incapable to
create such an enchanting, serene and beautiful
environment. Unfortunately, we human beings have
not been successful in shouldering the
responsibility of maintaining its beauty and have
corrupted and punished nature mercilessly. We need
to understand that if the beauty of nature is
gone, it is gone forever! The need of the hour is
to sustain it and replenish it.

Manjunath Sulloli, a
reknowned environmentalist shared his journey of
passion with fnbworld.com. He was born
and grew up in the remorse villages Western Ghats
and has always been awed by the beauty of nature
and the things it has to offer for us human
beings. Being a biology student, he took up
independent research, exploring new caves,
studying various tribes and forest dwellers, their
traditions and culture and has already explored
most of the ancient historical monuments of
Karnataka. Apart from this, he has also documented
various valleys, rivers and hills of Western Ghats
of Maharastra and Goa.

On being asked what
inspired him to take up this profession/hobby, he
said - My Guru Mr Manohar Mangolker is someone who
inspired me to become a naturalist. “Green
is embodied in me since childhood!” Also,
the natural living of the villagers always left me
spellbound. How natural they
are…

Manjunath further shed
light upon his journey and said that his journey
has been a great one and he has been fortunate
enough to having not faced any difficulties in
following his passion as of now. Although he is a
complete nature lover and devotes all his free
time to it, he loves to observe human behavior and
tendency of people living in the remorse villages
and cities.

A few years back, he
rediscovered the entire Chalukyan land, which is
known to be the largest temple construction
movement of Hindu civilization. He is also
engrossed in cosmic energies and panchabhootas and
keeps studying them time to time.

Even though he does not
take part in environment movements, he supports
the various causes regarding environment and has
also visited various well-known universities and
colleges to speak to the students about
theenvironment and nature.

About his perception of
the modern society, Manjunath firmly believes that
the modern society was very distracted and
preoccupied with other unimportant things and at
the same time extremely materialistic. They
usually turn a deaf ear towards environmental
problems and concerns. Eco-tourism and nature
study has become the part of business rather than
education and its proliferation. Their
contribution towards the environment is either
very little or nothing at all. Even the
sanctuaries and national parks are mostly
accessible to the wealthy for a fee and the common
and poor are left out.

Recently, New Delhi was
stated as the ‘most polluted city in the
world’ after smog enveloped the city right
after the festival of Diwali. Sharing his views
about the rise of air pollution in the city
post-Diwali, he feels that it is high time people
start taking corrective action. “If Delhi is
a centre of top brains, then certainly it has
failed to have serene clean atmosphere and
implement stringent laws. Let Delhi’s
colleges and teachers show way for a change. I
pity on Delhi’s pollution”, he
said.

He also talked about his
undying love for animals and birds and explained
how animals are completely different from us human
beings. They are loving, caring and not at all
greedy. On every journey he embarks upon, these
animals and birds have always been there by his
side making him happy.

Towards the end of this
brief interview, he gave an insight into his
future environmental projects. He has decided to
work for the sustainable living methodologies
among the forest dwellers of Western Ghats and
would make a documentary on it. Apart from this,
he wishes to study about the spiritual importance
of Western Ghats. Nature and environment are the
bedrock of spirituality, asserts
Manjunath.